DA-led coalition for Mandela Bay a step closer

Port Elizabeth – With the UDM willing to form a coalition with the DA, Mmusi Maimane's party would need just another two seats for an outright majority in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.

DA mayoral candidate Athol Trollip said on Saturday that talks were taking place at national level to form coalitions in Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and, potentially, in Johannesburg.

He would not disclose any details, other than to repeat UDM leader Bantu Holomisa’s and UDM regional chairperson Mongameli Bobani’s statements that they would form a coalition with the DA.

If the UDM joined the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay, the DA would need only another two seats for a majority.

Port Elizabeth was one of the most contested metros in the 2016 local government elections. The DA wrested control from the ANC by securing 46.7% of the vote and 57 seats in the 120-seat council.

The ANC secured 40.9%, gaining 50 seats, a major drop from its 62-seat majority in 2011.

The DA needed four additional seats to have a 61-member council majority, and the ANC 11.

The EFF was the third-largest party, securing 5.1% of the vote, and 6 seats on council. The UDM secured 1.9% of the vote, earning them 2 seats.

The remaining five seats went to Cope, the ACDP, the African Independent Conference, the United Front of the Eastern Cape, and the newly-formed Patriotic Alliance.

The ANC would need the EFF and the five remaining parties to reach the 61-seat majority. The EFF had however stated it would not form a coalition with the ANC.

“We won’t work with the ANC, but we won’t close our ears when people want to talk to us,” EFF leader Julius Malema said in Johannesburg earlier this week.

Trollip believed that no self-respecting political party leader who contested elections against the ANC would then go into a coalition with the ruling party.

“That would be disastrous. That would be going against the wishes of the people,” he said.

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